Film Review: Exodus: Gods and Kings

‪ 

Exodus: Gods and Kings. Rated M (mature themes and violence). 150 minutes. Directed by Ridley Scott. Screenplay by Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine and Steven Zaillian.

Verdict: A sumptuous visual feast that brings nothing new to the age-old contest.

Since time immemorial, The Bible’s New and Old Testaments have provided film-makers with a rich tapestry of spiritually-charged adventures on a grand scale. It was the legendary Cecil B DeMille who first filmed the story of Moses and The Ten Commandments in 1923 as a silent epic, before revisiting the story in 1956 with Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as his ‘brother’, Pharaoh Rameses of Egypt.

For his lavish account of the epic, faith-based contest between Moses (Christian Bale), Rameses (Joel Edgerton) and God’s messenger, Malak (11-year-old Isaac Andrews), Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Prometheus) has created a sumptuous visual feast that is simply breath-taking in its scale of cinematic wonder. The work of his Prometheus collaborators – cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, Production Designer Arthur Max, and Costume Designer Janty Yates – is nothing less than awe-inspiring. And while everyone wears far too much make-up (especially eye-liner), Exodus never looks less than magnificent.

The screenplay, though, doesn’t do anyone any favours, with Edgerton’s Rameses reduced to a thinly-drawn, snappy, inarticulate and petulant man/child. Bale gradually rises to meet the demands of his role as the great prophet and saviour of the enslaved Israelites, and his realisation that his God has not abandoned him, just as The Red Sea begins to part, is about as good as the acting gets.

What remains troubling about the experience of this film is how Scott fails to bring any new insights about this well-known battle of faith and self-belief into consideration. At a time where faith of any description is increasingly difficult to maintain, the opportunity to challenge us about the role faith might play in our lives is wasted completely. Faith, after all, is about how we feel, not how we look.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Prometheus

Prometheus. Rated M (moderate science fiction violence and a medical procedure). 124 minutes. Directed by Ridley Scott. Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof.

Verdict: An abysmal script sinks any hope of the masterpiece we might have expected.

With the exception of The Avengers, it is difficult to imagine a film that has been so keenly anticipated as Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus. For months, pre-release expectations have been whipped up into a frenzy with leaked clips, photos and gossip – all of which risked doing the film a great disservice. Could Prometheus be anywhere near as fantastic as we had been manipulated into believing it might be?

It is 2089. Archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover an ancient star map that they interpret as an invitation for contact from a pre-human race of supreme beings. Three years later, at the invitation of the ageing Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), Shaw and Holloway join the crew of the scientific exploration vessel Prometheus to travel to the distant moon LV-223 where their creationist theories will be challenged beyond their comprehension.

Spaihts and Lindelof’s (TV’s Lost, and 2011’s turkey Cowboys & Aliens) screenplay boasts a hapless mediocrity – and if there is a sci-fi cliché or another superior movie’s highpoint to be exploited, they waste no time in doing so. The abysmal script is only made worse when compared to the exceptional work of production designer Arthur Max (Robin Hood, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Se7en) and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Alice in Wonderland, Dark City).

The cast, which includes Charlize Theron as corporate whip Meredith Vickers, Michael Fassbender as David the Android, and Idris Elba as the captain of the Prometheus, all do their very best to keep a straight face – possibly realising that at least they’ll certainly look great. Ms Rapace and Mr Marshall-Green both bring real chemistry to their roles, with Rapace in particular, effortlessly rising to the silly demands required of her in the film’s panic-stricken second half.

Shot – spectacularly – in 3D, Mr Scott has certainly made an ambitious return to the universe he so lovingly crafted for Alien in 1979. What is even more extraordinary is why he went there with a script that never manages to stand up to the grand themes of the origins of humanity he obviously wants to explore. And if the heavily sign-posted sequel eventuates (Alien aficionados will know that the crew of the Nostromo discovered a derelict spaceship on LV-426, not Prometheus’s LV-223), we can only hope he goes there with new writers.

Pictured: Logan Marshall-Green, Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender quite possibly dreading their next line of dialogue in Prometheus.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.